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Three leading businesses have been recognised for outstanding performance in managing resource use and cutting greenhouse gas emissions by the Carbon Trust. The Carbon Trust’s annual awards recognise the top performers amongst all the organisations certified by the Carbon Trust over the previous 12 months.

The awards were presented at the Carbon Trust Standard Bearers Conference held at the QEII Conference Centre in Central London on Thursday 8 October, an annual event hosted exclusively for organisations that have achieved Carbon Trust certification. This year’s event featured keynote speeches from Matthew Bell, the Chief Executive of the Committee on Climate Change and Barry Gardiner, the UK’s Shadow Minister for Energy and Climate Change.

We are continually impressed with the dedication and progress made by all the organisations that we certify. But this year’s awards recognise some really exceptional performance from businesses who are demonstrating how much positive change can be achieved when sustainability is embedded throughout an organisation. A lot of credit has to go to the teams that have delivered these substantial improvements, whose dedication to reducing their environmental impact has resulted in a proven track record of annual reductions

Darran Messem, Managing Director of Certification at the Carbon Trust

AkzoNobel went home with two awards, after demonstrating the best performance in both water and waste management.

AkzoNobel is proud to hold the Carbon Trust Standard in all three categories, and we are even prouder of the people within our business who constantly challenge, innovate and question to take our performance to new levels. We attribute this recognition as a leading performer in both waste and water to them

A new category was added to the awards this year, to recognise improvements in certified product carbon footprints. This was won by Samsung, for achievements in improving the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions associated with its Galaxy S smartphones.

As the world’s leading manufacturer of smartphones, we have a responsibility to minimise our environmental footprint. Being recognised for substantially reducing greenhouse emissions across our flagship range of Galaxy smartphones is a great honour. This is thanks to our ‘Planet First’ approach, where we consider the environmental impact of everything we manufacture – right from the start. We are committed to an on-going programme of lowering our impact on the environment – and look forward to making even further progress in this area in the future.

Wouter van Tol, European Head of Corporate Citizenship and Sustainability at Samsung Electronics

Best in carbon management (2014-15)

Kuehne+Nagel

Global transportation and logistics business Kuehne+Nagel achieved the joint highest overall carbon management score in its qualitative assessment, with the highest absolute reduction of emissions amongst those with equal carbon management scores. The business achieved a 16 percent absolute reduction in its carbon emissions over the past 2 years and a carbon management score of 89 percent. These significant reductions were reached through a focus on fuel consumption by its vehicle fleet and consolidating delivery routes and routines.

Best in waste management (2014-15)

AkzoNobel Decorative Paints UK

AkzoNobel, the leading manufacturer of paints and coatings under brands including Dulux and Hammerite, achieved the joint highest overall waste management score in a qualitative assessment, with the highest absolute reduction of waste amongst those with equal waste management scores. With an 11.6 percent absolute reduction in waste over the past two years, AkzoNobel also achieved a waste management score of 87 percent. This was achieved through a variety of initiatives including trials with a centrifuge at their Slough manufacturing site which have led to a 70% reduction in waste paint sludge. AkzoNobel’s recent investment in a new paint plant has incorporated commendable sustainable designs for waste efficiency.

Best in water management (2014-15)

AkzoNobel Decorative Paints UK

As well as winning the waste management award, AkzoNobel also achieved the joint highest overall water management score in a qualitative assessment, with the highest absolute reduction of water usage of 14.2 percent over the past two years, with a water management score of 79 percent. This occurred by going beyond targeting reductions and promoting a more holistic approach to water sustainability, for example through introducing an innovative system which incorporates rainwater directly into product manufacturing.

Best performance in product carbon footprinting (2014-15)

Samsung (Galaxy S Series)

Samsung began working with the Carbon Trust in 2012, committing to certify the carbon footprint of all models of its flagship Galaxy smartphone range. This was first done with the Galaxy S2 in 2012, and since then has included all Galaxy S and Galaxy Note handsets up to and including the recent Galaxy S6. This award recognises the cumulative product carbon footprint reduction of 37 percent made between the Galaxy S2 and S5, which was the latest model to be certified in 2014-15.